Fort Pastor
by SethGecko
Summary: with no hope, and no way out but death... this is the story of the survivors at Fort Pastor
1. Morning

Disclaimer: Characters all original (Yeah, I know it starts off like the movie, but I promise, its a different story altogether )  
  
Hell had broken loose over Wisconsin.  
  
Tricia Miller sat in her car, staring out the blood-smeared window at the carnage ahead. On the streets, cops and soliders were firing endlessly at a horde of converging zombies. Panicked citizens ran back and forth through the streets screaming in fear. Tricia was frozen in her seat, and her hands were white against the steering wheel. She watched helplessly as the teeth of an advancing zombie cut one of the soldiers down. That broke her out of her reverie. She immediately set the car in reverse and started backing up, the tires screeching across the road. She did a backwards U-turn and was about to drive off when a bloody hand slammed up against the side window. Tricia screamed as the zombie hand broke through the glass and started to reach through and grab her hair. There was a slam. She felt the zombie's grip release her hair. She looked over and saw a police officer had tackled the zombie to the floor. He was using his shotgun to hold back its teeth as they struggled. "Get the hell out of here lady," he yelled out.   
  
Tricia didn't need to be told twice. Slamming on the brakes, the car took off down the road, and away from the massacre.  
  
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Only a few hours earlier, Milwaukee had been a peaceful, happy place. Children were playing along the sidewalks, executives were enjoying their day off work, and Tricia Miller had finally gotten her license to drive. She was in her third year of high school, and was the only one of her friends who had enough money for a Ferrari. She had planned a nice, long day of cruising around town in her new car, but when the first sightings of the zombies were reported, that car would be used to help save her life. It should've just been another normal day for her. She had planned on spending the day waiting for Joshua Park, the school quarterback, to ask her out to Homecoming. But instead, she'd woken up in a nightmare. Nothing would be the same anymore, nothing would be happy. When Tricia Miller woke up that morning, 4 hours earlier, she'd only found death.  
  
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The car was parked at the side of a deserted road, at the edge of a forest. It had taken Tricia a full hour before she got the courage to leave the vehicle. She needed a breath of fresh air and so she skimmed the inside of the woods till she come upon a small stream. She knelt down and swept some of the river water through her blonde hair. When the streams settled, she looked at her reflection in the clear waters. Normally, she was a pretty girl, the kind that every guy in Milton High drooled after, but now her blonde hair was tangled and her face had stains of blood on it, with her blue eyes were sunken and hollow. She looked away, not liking what she saw. She tried to forget about everything that had happened, but she couldn't.   
  
Tricia used her hands to take some of that semi-clear water and carried it to her face. The blood was dry. It was hard to clean off. She at first was frightened that some of those cherry-colored stains came from beneath her skin, but this was confirmed to be untrue as her hand scanned her usually very cookie-cutter face. She took a second, a third, and a fourth swoop from that cleansing water. It was, though, at the fifth swoop that her fate changed.  
  
Tricia estimated the incoming sounds originated from a point five meters away. Her hands, cupped in a way that very little water could slip out of her hands, trembled. She thought to herself: another one of these freak show sickos? Now what?  
  
She pondered this thought for a while. It seemed, now, in these four seconds that passed since her mind recognized singular sounds coming from relatively near her, that the best alternative would be to run for the car. With the car she could run over the freaks, or better (and safer) yet, just ride away from this locale. The bushes now fluttered slightly. The sounds were getting closer. Steps on the floor were slightly recognizable by the cracking of the leaves. Then Tricia's eyes captured the three figures.  
  
Tricia's heart started to pound.  
  
There were three of them. Tricia's heart beat slowed. They were human, like her. A girl about Tricia's age, wearing a cowgirl hat, with red hair and green eyes. The other was a black, middle-aged man wearing a nice shirt. (Nice as in: it would look fancy without the blood spattered on it.) and a priest collar. The third was a young man, handsome rugged features, only a year or two older than Tricia. He had a green tattoo of a bull head on his arm, and wore tattered blue jeans and a leather biker vest which was covered in blood.   
  
At first, the red-headed girl tensed when she first spotted Tricia, seeing the blood and the pale features. The priest saw her too and quickly intervened. "Easy Madison, she's one of us." Madison slowly relaxed and the priest turned his attention back to Tricia. "Are you allright?" he asked.  
  
Tricia nodded weakly.   
  
"My name is Curtis," said the priest," and this is Madison and," Curtis pointed to the young biker, "That's Tyler.  
  
"I'm guessing there's no help from where you came either," said Tyler. It wasn't a question.  
  
Tricia shook her head. "But... I have a car."   
  
"Will you let us come with you..", asked Curtis, "There's a military base on the edge of the town, with a car we could get there in no time."   
  
Tricia wiped the tears from her eyes and stood back up, and then slowly started walking back to her car.  
  
Watching her leave, Madison looked to Curtis and shrugged. "I'm guessing that means yes?" 


	2. The Gates,

The car drove for what seemed like hours around the deserted outskirks of the town. The survivors watched what seemed like the same bland landscape of farm and forest going on and on eternally.  
  
Tricia drove with Curtis sitting in the passenger seat, while Madison sat in the back with Tyler. Tyler had been silent the whole time, staring out the window, and Tricia had caught quick glances of him in the rearview mirror, wondering what was his deal was. "So where are you guys coming from?" she asked. "Kanden Hill," answered Curtis, "There.... used to be more of us....." Tricia gulped. "Curtis, what makes you think Fort Pastor is going to be any different?" asked Madison. Just then, Tyler spoke up "It's probably just as screwed up as everywhere else." Curtis turned to face him. "We have to hope kid." Tyler didn't answer, he just turned his cool gaze to the rearview mirror, where Tricia was looking at him. Tricia blushed and looked back to the road. What's wrong with me? "Guys look!" Madison pointed out the front window. Fort Pastor was coming into view.  
  
Tricia skidded the car to a stop right in front of the base. The three filed out of the car and walked up to the front gates. Curtis rattled the bars. "Damn, it's locked."  
  
Tyler tried to see through the bars to the other side. The military base was dark and silent. "Doesn't look like anybody's there." he noted.  
  
Tricia narrowed her eyes. "Don't say that." Curtis rattled the bars a couple of more times and then started calling out. "Hello, anybody there!" The only response that  
  
came back to him was his own echo. Tyler just sighed and leaned back against the gates. Madison sank down to her knees, mumbling "There has to be someone there... there has to be."  
  
Tricia looked over to her. A part of her wanted to breakdown also, but she was trying to stay strong. An agonized moan cut through the air. It came from the nearby   
  
forest. "Damn," said Curtis, "Their coming." As if on cue, zombies, dozens of them, began to lurch out from the woods. They came from behind the trees, behind the bushes,   
  
blood dripping off their extended hands, the flesh peeling off their faces. The four survivors were trapped. There was only the gates behind them and the forest around them.  
  
"Well this is it," Said Tyler, sliding a fresh clip into his beretta, "Go down fighting." Tyler handed Tricia a revolver, and Tricia took it, hesitant at first.   
  
The zombies closed in. A loud beep rang out. The gates slid open fast, causing a startled Tricia to jump slightly. A figure appeared from the opened gates and slowly became visible in the darkness. A woman appeared, wearing army fatigues and holding M16's. "Hurry up!" said the female soldier. "Get in!" the female soldier started opening fire on the horde. More and more were appearing from the woods. Tricia practically dived through the open gates and Tyler and Curtis had to grab Madison by the arms and haul her up before she moved and finally all of them were inside. The gates closed, locking out the cries of the zombies. 


	3. Blood on the Walls

Fort Pastor was made up of three different parts. There was the courtyard, which Tricia was being led through now. It wasn't that wide, but had a small fountain in the middle. Then there were two bases, which looked more like prisons. There was the smaller one (the one they were going to) and the larger one which Tricia could see a few several hundred feet off. Both bases were connected in a myriad of attahchments to several smaller compounds that ran throughout the the base. The female soldier, a tanned woman with long black hair, tied in a knot, had introduced herself as Marissa. She led them through the first entrance into the small base, bringing them into a small circular room. They all stopped to catch a breath. Marissa slid a fresh  
  
clip into her M16 and wiped sweat from her forehead. Dylan, Tricia, Tyler, and Madison were all exhausted, and slumped up against the wall. "Well, your welcome." said Marissa.  
  
"Thank you," gasped Curtis, in between breaths. "No problem!" Marissa smirked and walked  
  
out of the room. Tyler and Tricia exchanged a "This woman is kind of 'off"" look. Still, she'd saved their lives, so they followed her out of the room and into some sort of assembly hall. "Are you..", Curtis started, but then Marissa cut him off with a "Shh!" She motioned for all of them to  
  
be silent. Her M16 was raised. The others followed warily. The assembly hall was dark and the walls were covered with blood. "Hey preacher man," whispered Marissa, "you and biker boy check the back. Take this." Reaching into her belt, she pulled out a deagle and a beretta,   
  
and handed each to Curtis and Tyler. "What are we looking for exactly?" asked Curtis. "Creatures... you're not safe yet father." Marissa kicked open the door at the end of the room. There was nothing there but a shadowy hallway. Curtis looked over to Tyler, who just shrugged,  
  
then both of them went over to the back door of the assembly room. It opened out into a maze of corridors, all metallic, all still covered with blood. "Lord.. what happened here," whispered Curtis to himself. Meanwhile, Tricia and Madison were staying close behind Marissa, who was  
  
lead them up to a steel door with the words "Warning!" scrawled on the surface. Marissa slid it open, and there was only darkness ahead. "What's in there?" asked Tricia. Marissa turned and motioned for her to keep quiet. When she turned back, The body lurched in front of her. The  
  
zombie, emerging from the shadows, came out from the doorway and grabbed hold of her neck. Marissa dropped the M16 as she struggled to free herself, the zombie's teeth gnashing at her arms as she tried to push it back "Maricone!" She reached into her belt and grabbed a small  
  
switch-blade, even as the zombie's grip tightened on her throat. She jammed it into the thing's eye and it lurched back, releasing her neck. Marissa dropped to the floor, coughing. Within a second, the zombie was lunging forward again, the knife still stuck in its eye. Marissa couldn't  
  
move, she just knelt there, frozen, waiting for death. The bullets of the M16 went off, waking Marissa out of her almost trance-like state. She looked up, as the zombie dropped to the floor, riddled with colt shots along its stomach and head. The smoke cleared, and there was Tricia,  
  
breathing heavily, holding the M16. Half of the bullets had missed, but the other dozen or so had hit the target. "Nice work," breathed Marissa as she stood back up.  
  
----------  
  
Meanwhile, in the back, Curtis and Tyler were checking up on all the rooms nearby, so that they knew the corridors around the assembly hall were safe. Tyler entered one room, which was more like a janitor's closet, filled with brooms and an old TV. In the far corner, a body was strewn out, lying flat on its back. Tyler held his nose and walked closer to it, kneeling down next  
  
to it. This guy's been dead for hours.. The corpse had a name-tag on his jacket that read "Ronnie,". Tyler spotted something else along the ciat. Slowly, his hand went down to the corpse's coat. Carefully, it found its way into the pocket and took the object lying   
  
there. Two clips, for a beretta, nothing that important, still useful. While still kneeling, Tyler brought the first clip up to the once half empty gun, and slammed the ammo in. The minute he did, the corpse moved.   
  
Surprise shot through Tyler as he practically jumped away from the moving body. His heart was thudding in his chest as his back bumped up against the door. The corpse was moving, but it wasn't getting up, it was just lying there...twitching. Tyler treid to catch his breath. He'd seen  
  
them before.. twitchers. He knew what he had to do. Bringing the beretta up, he aimed it towards "Dead Ronnie's" head, and squeezed the trigger.  
  
-------  
  
In another hallway, Curtis heard the gunshot and he moved to where the sound was coming from. Just as he rounded the corner, he came upon the one thing he would never have expected to find. A dog, a huge rottweiler, blocking his path. It was growling viciously at him, drool  
  
hanging from its teeth. Curtis took a step back, and as the initial shock began to ware off, he saw that the dog was actually on a chain, and that chain led to someone's hand. A figure  
  
emerged from the shadows, holding the chain. Curtis saw the man was another soldier. The soldier stayed silent for a second, and then finally spoke. "Who the hell are you?"  
  
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	4. Shelter

--------  
  
"Are you the only one here?" asked Tricia. Her, Madison and Marissa had all made it back to the assembly room, and were sitting down waiting for the boys to return. Marissa chuckled. "Of course not, there's Craig, and then Eric who's cleaning off the basement." Tricia perked brow.. "Cleaning off?" "I guess I should say... finishing off. We had a minor zombie problem down there." Just then, Tyler and Curtis came back through the back-door of the assembly hall, along with a soldier, covered in blood. Tricia could tell he was about Tyler's age, with tanned skin and short black hair and cold grey-brown eyes. He was wearing a   
  
blue fatigue shirt and army pants, with a cross tattoe on his right arm and small scar above his left eyebrow. An M16 was also slung around his back. Kind of cute, thought Tricia, If he didn't have that scowl etched onto face. Tyler and Curtis walked past him, and moved to sit down with the others.   
  
"Hi Eric," said Marissa casually. "Where's Xena?" "I chained her.", Eric paused, then continued, "You brought them in here?" he asked cooly. Tyler narrowed his eyes, and spoke up, "Yeah, she brought us in. What's the problem?" Eric ignored the young biker and kept his gaze on Marissa. "I told you.... never   
  
open those gates." Marissa looked down, "I had to, they were about to die." Curtis spoke up, "Look, please, we came here looking for help." "Like that means shit to me," answered Eric, continuing with, "Let me get one thing straight. This is our base, and if you're going to stay here, you live under our rules." Tricia had the feeling that Eric really wanted to say "MY" rules. Wiping blood off his fatigues, Eric gave them all a menacing look and then walked out of the   
  
assembly hall. "What a dick," said Tyler. Tricia giggled and nodded in agreement. Then she looked over to her left. Madison was standing there, slumped   
  
against the wall, a spaced out-look in her eyes. Tricia felt bad for her. --She must still be freaked out... but we all are...-- "Well," said Marissa with a big   
  
smile, "Don't mind him, he's really not that bad!" Marissa stood up and followed Eric outside the assembly room. The others all exchanged looks, and then,   
  
guessing they were supposed to follow, left the assembly room as well. Tricia was the first to catch up to Marissa, the female soldier was in some sort of control room with Eric. The others caught up, but Eric didn't even bother to turn around and acknowledge them. In the middle of the room, was a wide green table that stretched from wall to the other. The table was covered in various radio equipment and monitor screens that gave different camera views of the base   
  
interior. Eric was apparently trying to get the radios working, and failing, as each time he tried all that came out was loud static. "So I'm guessing... no luck?" piped Marissa. "Good guess." Eric stepped back from the table and folded his arms across his chest, keeping his eyes to the control panel.   
  
"We're getting some kind of signal from the main base though..."   
  
"Survivors?"   
  
"Probably."   
  
"Can either of you two tell us what's going on here?" asked Curtis. Eric turned slightly to answer, "We know as much as you know Padre. The world's a hellhole and we're all at Shit's Square." "Then what happened to this base," continued Curtis, "We were told it was a safe sanctuary." Marissa chuckled softly before answering, "It "Was' safe.....both bases were safe. See the gates on the other side of the walls were breached. By that time we got them shut again, enough of the monsters had already leaked in. We were all over at the main base, but had to evacuate. Only a handful of us made it out." Tricia looked up   
  
and thought she saw Eric's fists clench, but then, just like that, the hands were un-clenched again. Eric took in a deep breath and turned around to face them. "About those rules I was talking about earlier." He made sure everyone was listenining before going on, "As you can already tell, this base isn't fully secured. From what we know, there's still a lot of creatures on the top floors. We've managed to secure the first and second floors, for the most part." "Hey Eric, I'm going to give them the tour," said Marissa. Eric shrugged and turned back to the radio monitors,   
  
"...Go for it."   
  
"Great!!"   
  
With a wide grin, Marissa motioned for the others to follow her back outside, while Eric remained in the control room trying to fix the equipment. Once they were back outside, Marissa turned to the others and winked. "Now that you've had the pleasure of meeting Eric... let's go meet Craig!"  
  
------------  
  
"Um...." Tricia stood in the med ward, shifting her feet uncomfortably, along with the others. They had met Craig, who was lying in a hospital bed, suffering from an injury. Marissa and had been tongue-wrestling Craig for going on.... 2 minutes now. Curtis cleared his throat, "Uh... guys?" As if waking up from a dream, Marissa pulled back from the bed-ridden Craig and turned around. "Oh right, guys, Craig. Craig, guys." Her face was a little flushed. "Nice to meet   
  
ya," said Craig. He had a heavy Australian accent. "What happened to your head?" asked Madison, pointing to the bandage around Craig's forehead. "Ah,   
  
nothing to worry about. Bloody monster knocked me down is all. Hit my head on one of 'em shutters."It's a good thing Eric and Kara showed up or...". "Craig, we lost Kara.." said Marissa. Her eyes were going red and she was looking down at the floor. "Damn...how's Eric holding up?" "He's managing. Anyways,   
  
you should get some rest," Marissa stood up, kissed Craig one last time. The others said their goodbyes and followed Marissa as she left the med ward and led them into a dark, empty corridor. "What now," asked Tyler. At first, Marissa didn't answer. It seemed she was thinking about something. Finally, she spoke. "Who's sleepy?" 


	5. Without Sleep

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The door to the bunkers slammed close. They could hear Marissa's footsteps walking away and turning around a corner. Then there was silence. Their quarters, was a large room filled with bunk beds on either side. Madison, and Tricia spread to different ends of the room, each finding their own seperate bed spaced out from the other. Tricia was the first to sit down, but she didn't lie back. Even though it was well into the night now, she wasn't tired yet. Curtis remained standing where he was, and as he looked over to the others, who were all silent, struggled to try and break the tension. "Well, we survived our first night," said the priest with   
  
a grin. Tricia managed a weak smile, "Yeah, barely." Suddenly, they heard sobbing. It was Madison, she was slumped on her bed, her eyes filled with tears. Curtis sighed, "Madison....." "Hey, are you allright?" called out Tricia Madison didn't answer. Instead, she turned away from them and curled up underneath the blankets. "Tricia... we... Madison's parents... they didn't make it..." whispered Curtis, his own eyes red. Hearing that, Tricia looked down at the floor. Her own parents had been out of town for the weekend, she just hoped that, wherever they were, they were well and safe. The full reality of the situation was starting to grab   
  
hold of her again, like it had back in the woods. Curtis sighed, "Tyler tried to save them, but, it was to late, there were to many of those things..". Tricia looked back over to where Madison was. Then she stood up, and was about to head over to Madison when she heard Tyler whisper over to her, "Don't... she needs to be alone now." Tricia hesistated, and then with a sigh, sat back down on her bed. Curtis meanwhile had headed over to the right side of the room and found a bunk bed there. Tricia pulled the blanket over her and laid her head down on the pillow. The surface of the bed was cold and hard, and very uncomfortable. Not to mention   
  
there was the smell of smeared blood on the walls. --God, how could anyone sleep here-- thought Tricia Madison had stopped crying now, and the room was silent. Tricia turned back and forth on her bed, trying to get comfortable, but it was no use. She looked over to the far side of the room, where Tyler had walked over to. She watched as he stopped by the window, his green eyes cast to the night sky overhead.   
  
He was holding a chain in his hand, a thin silver necklace with a small cross on the end, something that Tricia hadn't seen him carrying before. She wondered what was on Tyler's mind, what he was thinking. It seemed everything about him was a completely mystery. The lights in   
  
the room went out, someone having pulled the light switch from outside, probably Marissa. Darkness flooded the bunker. Tricia's eyes slowly closed... 


	6. Death Wish

It was dawn now, and blood was already being spilt. he was on the rooftop, carrying a machete with the blade at least a foot and a half in a length. To his back, was a USMC M40A1 sniper rifle, and in front of him, a zombie was slumping to the floor, a deep knife wound in the top of its head. It lay still, and never moved again. There was only one more to take care of. Pvt. Eric Reyes turned to the female zombie near the edge of the roof. It was running towards at him at full speed. Eric was a ready, with a simple grin he pushed back a few steps and the machete came whistling out. It cut the zombie across the chest forcing it to stumble back a few steps. A second later, and it was lunging forward again. This time, Eric rolled to the side, barely avoiding a grab. He shot back to his feet, spun, just as the zombie tackled him right up against the edge of the roof. --Shit...-- Eric struggled to not only keep from falling off the roof, but at the same time, keep the zombie's teeth from his throat. "fuck you!" Eric pushed back with all his weight, forcing the zombie's hold to loosen, as he brought the machete out and shoved it right into the side of the creature's head. A shove, and the zombie was off him, slumped on the ground next to the other one. Eric took in a breath, and then turned back to the ledge. He had a perfect view of the courtyard and the open grounds that stretched out for a few hundred feet until stopping at the Main Base. He could see the zombies from beyond the Fort walls, clawing it, surrounding it, trying some way to get in. --And they will.... sooner or later--   
  
Eric planted one hand on the ledge, his other hand going round to his back-unstrapping the sniper rifle and bringing it in front of him. Narrowing one eye, he placed the other eye in front of the scope and used his hands to aim the sniper rifle to the zombie's outside the walls. Bang! One zombie dropped. Eric's finger relaxed on the trigger. He hesitated. --Kara...-- Anger consumed him, his finger closed on the trigger again. Another zombie dropped just as a voice came from behind him. "Way to relieve to stress mate..." Eric didn't turn around, he just aimed the sniper rifle at another zombie head. "Not now Craig..." Craig came up beside Eric by the ledge, and looked up at the sky. The clouds were heavy and thick, and it was going to rain.   
  
"Marissa told me you were up.... do you have some kind of bloody death wish Eri.."   
  
"I don't need a damn lecture!"   
  
Bang! The third zombie fell, its blood splattered against the gates.  
  
"I.... I heard about Kara."  
  
A silence fell. The rain started coming down. The clouds were ominous and foreboding.   
  
To Craig's surprise, Eric actually dropped the sniper rifle and propped it vertically against the ledge and turned around to face him.  
  
"So Marissa sent you up here to fetch me? I didn't know you were her errand boy."  
  
"Give it a rest Eric. We're supposed to be best friends, or did you forget that."   
  
Eric brushed past him and walked over to one of the zombies he'd skewered. It was twitching. Eric pulled his knife back out. The rain was in torrents now. Then, Eric brought the knife back down and finished the job he'd started. Craig came over to the other side of the zombie body, the slightest glint of remorse in his eyes.   
  
"What do you think they are...demons?"  
  
"... Target practice."   
  
"So I take it you haven't gotten to know the other survivors. You know they seem like decent people."  
  
"To hell with them" answered Eric, moving back to pick up his snifer rifle. "They can rot for all I c...". Eric had stopped talking suddenly. He was looking out across the grounds over to the main base. Craig jogged over to him to see what had caught his friend's attention.   
  
'Holy shit..."  
  
Barely visible, in one of those far off windows, a light was going on and off, in an S.O.S. Eric only looked on with cold eyes, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Then the light stayed on a board was posted up over the window. Eric couldn't see it clearly, but even   
  
from there, he knew what it said.  
  
H E L P 


	7. A New Day

(Minor changes to some of the chapters like the end of Chapter 6. Also, there was a big error on the description of the fort, which is changed now in Chapter 3. That's all for now, Enjoy the updates )  
  
Dawn. Tricia thought she would never see one again. But here she was. She was in the first floor woman's washroom, standing in front of the mirror, just, staring at herself. For once, it wasn't a self-indulged , narcissistic sort of thing, but more of a self-analysis. She was still wearing the fuzzy blue sweater and the same jeans, and those usual loop eerings. She needed some new clothes.... badly. She couldn't remember a single time she had ever worn the same clothes more than once. She was kind of annoyed, but at the same time thinking ---Tricia, don't be such a snob. Your life is never going to be the same.... so get over yourself--. It was hard though. She'd been born with rich, and had everything handed to her on a silver platter her whole life. But from her viewpoint, she had tried never to be conceited towards other people,. Either way, she was labelled a stuck-up princess. Right now, she only cared about one thing, and that was trying to survive, so that one day she might hopefully find her parents. Clothes....cars...fancy jewelry.. none of that was important anymore.   
  
She looked back down at her sweater once, and then looked back up to the mirror. It was starting to look too .....valley ----What I really need is some army fatigues...like what Marissa wears... those are awesome!-- Stepping away from the sink, she headed outside of the bathroom and bumped right into Tyler. She stumbled back a few steps, but Tyler caught her before she lost balance.   
  
"Damn, sorry, are you allright?"  
  
Tricia nodded and looked up at him. His short brown hair was ruffled and there was a slightest trace of circles underneath his green eyes. He was wearing the chain and cross around his neck, the one that she had seen him holding last night. She also noticed something more important..  
  
"What... where did you get those clothes?"  
  
Tyler was no longer wearing the leather jacket and scratched up pants, but a fresh new pair of a blue jeans and a black T-shirt.   
  
"They've got a whole bunch of clothes down in the storage room. We all went through it while you were sleeping."  
  
"Great, I really need to head down there, I look like a bum."  
  
"Nah, you look great."  
  
"Thanks.." Tricia tried to casually pass over the comment but she felt her cheeks flushing, "Anyway, where are the others?"  
  
"Downstairs," replied Tyler, moving to the door at the end of the hallway. "Come on."  
  
---------------  
  
The cafeteria, luckily, was completely clean. Unlike the hallways and several of the rooms, there wasn't a single smear of blood or zombie intestine anywhere to be seen. When Tricia and Tyler got there, Curtis and Marissa were already seated, and on the table was practically a buffet-style breakfast.  
  
"Wow," commented Tricia as she took a seat, Tyler sitting beside her. "Impressive."  
  
Marissa nodded as she finished a piece of pancake. "Yup, Craig got up early and made it for you."  
  
"Looks like he's a good cook."  
  
"That's not the only thing he's good at," said Marissa with a wink.  
  
Curtis coughed on some hash brown. "Please, we're eating."  
  
Tricia and Tyler both smiled.  
  
"So where's that other girl?" Marissa poured herself a glass of orange juice while speaking.  
  
"Madison? Still in bed, she's not feeling all that great," answered Tricia.  
  
"Well," Curtis spoke up, "Marissa, maybe now would be a good time to tell us everything."  
  
"Like Eric told you Father, we know as much as you know. I can tell you what happened with us though." Marissa paused to finish chewing before continuing. "Yesterday, when you guys arrived here, that was only an hour or so after us soldiers got here. That's why we're so un-organized, we've had no time to get set-up."  
  
"So only you three made it?" asked Tyler  
  
"No... there were 4 of us. But anyways, there still might be survivors in the other building. We made a pact that after we had a good nights rest and something to eat, we'd go back to the main base to see if there were others."  
  
Curtis nodded thoughtfully, "When do you plan on making the round."  
  
"Right now."----The voice that said that came from behind them. They all turned to see who had spoken.  
  
It was Craig, who had just come into the backdoor of the cafeteria. He had an ammunition strap across his shoulder, that hung over his chest. Eric came in after, holding an M16 and and a clip.  
  
"We got our first sign, so we're moving out," Eric slammed the clip into the weapon and then locked it, "So whoever wants to come, speak up."   
  
Tyler stood up. "I want in."  
  
Curtis did the same. "I also want to help."  
  
Tricia hesitated at first, but then took in a deep breath and stood up. "I want in."  
  
Eric perked a brow at her. "You?"  
  
Tricia narrowed her eyes, "Yah, me,.... what's the problem."  
  
"Just didn't think... nevermind. Marissa, you got all your gear packed?"  
  
The female soldier nodded.  
  
Craig walked over to the table and laid the ammunition out. "I'm staying behind, to keep watch over the base, and also keep the doors open for when you guys come back."  
  
"The rest of you....." started Eric, "Get ready to move out."  
  
------------- 


	8. Getting Set

The entourage that was heading out for the first round, was all assembled in a back room of the mini-base. There, Marissa, Tyler and Curtis were busy loading the weapons they were taking with them. Also, the big rottwheiler Xena was bounding around and growling at everybody viciously while they were trying to work. Tricia was standing in a corner, arranging the supplies she was going to have to carry, when she spotted Eric to her left, sitting on a bench and checking his ammunition belts. Tricia thought for a second, and then walked over to him..  
  
"That was so sexist.. what you did back there."  
  
Eric blinked, "What exactly did I do?"  
  
"The whole... "You?" and perking of eyebrow."  
  
Eric grinned, "Oh that. Well it wasn't a sexist thing."  
  
"Then?"  
  
"It's more of a "You don't look like you've done a days work in your life" kind of thing."  
  
"Ugh, that is so blonde-ist."  
  
"Blonde-ist?"  
  
"Yeah. I can take care of myself on you know."  
  
"Whatever you say princess, by the way, you won't be killing any creatures with that thing," Eric pointed idly to the glock Tricia was carrying before standing back up and walking away.  
  
"Why the hell not?"  
  
"The safety is still on."   
  
Eric turned his back to her and walked over to Marissa, leaving a bewildered Tricia to stare blankly at the gun. "Great...." muttered Tricia, trying to figure out how to take off the safety.  
  
"Here." Tyler stood in front of her and un-locked the safety. "Should be fine now."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
Tyler shrugged, "Learned that a long time ago."  
  
Tricia sat down on the bench, and started to feel the bravery she once felt starting to drain away. "I don't know If I'll be any use going out there with you guys."  
  
"You will be, plus, you're not even afraid. I can tell, and I respect that."  
  
Tricia sighed. "Yeah, well, it's more like, I haven't let the terror sink in. But it'll come to me eventually." Tricia looked back down at her glock. "I don't even know how to shoot properly."  
  
Tyler sat down on the bench next to her. "here, it's easy." Slowly, he took her hand, and helped her aim the glock.  
  
"When you two are done groping each other...try doing something to help us out." That was Eric again.  
  
"Back off," replied Tyler.  
  
"Make me?"  
  
Tricia sighed and shook her head ---Oh boy--  
  
"Guys, break it up. This isn't the time or the place," Marissa tried to calm them both down.   
  
The boys cooled off, and Eric turned back to the table, while slinging the M16 around his shoulder, "Fine. Gear up............. it's time to be heroes.  
  
-----------------  
  
(Next chapter is back to the action, I promise) 


	9. Shadows

The trip to the the main base took less then half an hour. They would stop to hide behind one of the small compounds every so often when a shadow would pass by, but for the most part, Tricia had only seen one zombie and it hadn't noticed them. On the way, Eric had confirmed a couple of things. The base Had been a prison at one time, just like Tricia thought, and the Main base itself had been re-built, getting rid of the Cells except in the basement, where they were used as holding quarters for the military trouble-makers.   
  
As they approached closer to the base, Tricia gave the building a look-over. It was dark, and the paint off the walls was rusting. It was built in the old Victorian style, but all the doors and windows were re-made in the modern style. Far off to the left and high above, Tricia could see the looming watch tower which connected to one of the walls of the Fort.   
  
Eric lead them up to a set of huge oak-doors, which he and Marissa proceeded to seperate. The doors opened up into a floor of complete darkness, and for the first time Tricia felt the slightest twinge of fear gripping her.  
  
"Here we go," Eric breathed and then stepped in, levelling his M16 ahead. Curtis followed next, then Marissa, then Tyler and then Tricia. One of the the soldier's clicked on the flashlight attached to their guns, and the beam of iridiscence pierced the gloom of the first floor hallway. Like the mini-base, there was blood everywhere, only in mass quantities. Desks were toppled over one and another and there was paper scattered all across the floor. Eric clicked on his flashlight and it shot towards the end of the corridor, revealing an intersection that branched off into several other hallways.  
  
"This place is like a damn maze," whispered Tyler.  
  
Somewhere above them, they heard screams, and then the faint crackle of what Tricia thought were gun-bullets. The shadows seemed to grow with each of their steps, since the windows were all shut, barring the light outside, and the only other source of light besides the flashlight was a broken fixture above them. That fixture kept on crackling and letting off sparks at the wrong moments, causing Tricia to shiver slightly.  
  
Following Eric, the crew made their way to the intersection and then down one of the smaller hallways. It brought them to a doorway which opened into a staircase. "Keep quiet," ordered Eric.   
  
This staircase only went one way, and that was downwards to the basement. Eric had told them earlier that they were sticking to the basement and the first floor, since he knew the higher floors were, to quote, "fucked up." A distorted, gurgled cry shot out from the shadows to their right, causing all the survivors to swivel around, guns and flashlights aimed in that direction. Eric told them to ignore it and keep moving, so they all headed down the steps......carefully, until they were in the basement. Another gurgled cry, guns were swung towards the shadows again, and again they saw nothing. Somehow they kept moving, and it brought them into a hallway where the left branched into a series of holding cells. The first one they passed, was filled with bodies, covered in wounds and lying in a pool of their own blood. Tricia gulped and hurried past it to the next cell.   
  
Eric wasn't to interested in the cells, he was headed to the otherside of the hallway when suddenly the cell shook beside him. Eric swivelled his M16 around, his flashlight pinpointed on the metallic doorway with only a tiny viewport at the top. A man's eyes could be seen there, staring back at him. The man spoke. "Hey, Pvt., let me out man."  
  
Eric lowered his weapon and smirked, "Why should I?"  
  
"What the hell man? Come on, before those things come back."  
  
Another gurgled cry erupted from the shadows where they had come from. The prisoner cast a worried glance in that direction before turning back to Eric, "Come on man, please, please!"  
  
Marissa came up to the front of the door to stand beside Eric and looked to the prisoner, "What's your name?"  
  
"Billy... Pvt. Billy Burrell. Look, the keys are right there man," Through the viewport, Billy pointed to the other side of the hallway, where a yellow glint was visible. Eric didn't even bother to turn to look.  
  
The cries from behind them had turned into a series of wails. Whatever was coming... it wasn't coming alone."  
  
Tyler and Curtis pointed their weapons in that direction and waited. A trickle of perspiration slid down Curtis' forehead as he aimed the gun. Tricia's hand tightened around the handle of the glock.  
  
"Let me out damnit!"  
  
A click, the clatter of keys, and the door swung open. With a sigh of relief, Billy burst from the cell just as a massive horde of zombies came barelling out from the staircase Eric and the others had once descended "Move!" yelled Eric, tossing the keys to the floor. The zombies, more than a dozen at least stopped at first, almost as if to taunt their prey, their faces grotesque, without a single shred of humanity left in those beady eyes of theres. Then... the creatures started running towards them at full speed.  
  
The survivors let loose a barrage of ammo on however many they could hit, but not enough were falling. Eric led the others to another doorway, prying it open even as the zombies were closing in. Marissa was the last to jump through, and the minute she did, Eric shut the door behind them.   
  
----  
  
Back in Billy's cell, a body was strewn outacross the bench, a large wound in its stomach. If the survivors had taken a closer look into that cell, they would've seen that Billy's cellmate, hadn't been killed by any zombie wound.......... 


	10. Madison

----------  
  
Madison stood beside an open window, the fresh air coming into the bunker room and cooling the interior. The rain was almost relaxing to watch, and it drowned out the cries of the zombies from outside the walls. Her eyes were red from the tears shed, but now she was done. There were no more tears now, no more time to be crying. She took in a deep breath and tried to stay calm, but the memory of her parents dying wouldn't clear from her mind.  
  
There was a knock on the door, and she turned to see Craig standing there, holding a tray of breakfast food.  
  
"Allo, thought I'd come see how you were doing."  
  
Madison just nodded casually and sat back down on her bed.   
  
"Oy, why so glum. You think your feeling bad now, wait till you try my pancakes."  
  
Craig walked over to her, and knelt down so that he was eye-level with her, and then proceeded to hand her the tray. But Madison didn't take it.  
  
"Dont make this so bloody hard, I'm telling ya, I make the best hash brown this side of the destroyed universe."  
  
Madison shook her head but a slight grinw ound its way on her face.  
  
"I know you're trying to a chuck a sickle, but there's people out there who need you. You need to be strong, so eat up."  
  
Madison perked a brow. "Chuck a sicke?"  
  
"Ah, don't mind that, Aussie took an' all."  
  
Madisoon took the tray and Craig stood back up, feeling proud.   
  
Madison took a bite of the bacon, and then looked back up at him.  
  
"Where are the others?"  
  
"They went over to the main base, pulling a rescue mission ya know. I stayed behind to keep the doors open for them, just in case they come packin'."  
  
"Then..... aren't you supposed to be watching the doors right now?"  
  
Craig's grin disappeared, "Oh crap...." 


	11. Survivors

First Floor Corridor, East Wing  
  
Water trickled down from an open pipe. Tap....tap...tap. They came into a small office room, and their attention was drawn over to a desk   
  
Billy stayed to the back, and nobody noticed him grabbing a used beretta up off the floor as they continued on down through the dark hallway.  
  
He hid the gun in his jacket and hurriedly caught up to the others. He stopped to walk next to Tyler.  
  
"Guys... I thought I should tell you something," said Billy with a grin on his face.  
  
Most ignored him but Curtis looked over and nodded, "Well what is it?"  
  
"In that cell, I saw a lot of people die... and get back up," Billy said it almost cheerfully.  
  
Finally, Eric stopped, and the group stopped with him. They all turned around to face Billy.  
  
The prisoner continued, "I know what makes them turn.... it's the bites."  
  
Tyler looked around, "No one here is bitten right?"  
  
Everyone in the group shook their heads in response.  
  
Billy grinned again, this time running a finger across his teeth, "So whatever you guys do, watch out for these."  
  
-----------------------  
  
With only the flashlights guiding them, Eric had led them into a room of total darkness. Billy remained in the back, keeping as far away from the others as he could. Only a few minutes had passed since they'd rescued him, and Tricia already didn't like him. There was a weird glint in the prisoner's eyes that creeped her out.  
  
They came into a wide, open bathroom...  
  
Tricia had seen blood before, but not like this. It coated the wall to the point it could pass for an actual painting job. The beam from Eric's flashlight washed over the floor, and over all the bodies littered there. There must've been at least 6 packed across the floor of the bathroom, all lying still, their faces cold and their eyes blank. Eric stepped over them without a second thought, and his flashlight went to the end of the bathroom.

The minute he did that, there was the clatter of a bullet hitting the floor. Before they knew what was happening, a 12-gauge shotgun was cocked and pointed in their direction.  
  
It was a man, middle-aged, plain-looking and wearing some trucker clothes, hat included. The shotgun in his hands was trembling. Beside him, was a teenager with spikey black hair and a skater shirt, and a yellow T-shirt that said NOFX on it. A look of relief washed over both their faces as they regarded the new visitors, and then slowly, the trucker's shotgun lowered. "Shit.. sorry about that," said the trucker, " Just makin su......"  
  
"Is there anybody else here?" interrupted Eric coldly.  
  
"Over here!" A voice called out from the other side of the stalls.  
  
Eric turned his flashlight to the left and the others looked in the same direction. It was a girl in her early 20's, with long brown hair.

She was dressed in a lab coat and kneeling by a body, waving them over. As they got closer, they realized the body was a young man, and he was still moving, but barely.   
  
Tricia made sure to avoid the bodies as she followed, looking over to the punk skater guy before talking, "These guys.. how did they die?"  
  
"They were monsters... we shot 'em," replied the skater, "Don't worry, they're not getting back up."  
  
"I'm glad you guys came," said the doctor girl. "Please, you have to help my brother." The man on the floor groaned softly in pain.  
  
"What's wrong with him?" asked Tyler, kneeling down beside the doctor.  
  
"One of the monsters attacked him about a half hour ago."  
  
A series of cries echoed out from somewhere nearby. Then there was the sound of nails scratching against metal, and rapid footsteps.   
  
"We have to go now!" yelled Tricia.  
  
"Help me carry him," said the doctor, leaning down to pick up her brother.  
  
"No, leave him, he's bitten," Eric turned away abruptly and walked out of the bathroom.  
  
"Eric!" screamed Marissa, desperately, trying to get him to come back. It was no use. Eric was already outside, and opening fire on something.   
  
"it's the bites isn't it" whispered the doctor as she looked down at her brother.  
  
Curtis nodded, "Yeah, it's just a matter of time before he turns."   
  
The doctor looked up at all of them. "Please.. I just don't want him to die here."  
  
Tyler sighed and nodded and picked up the brother, while Craig and Curtis ran out to help Eric.  
  
With their new tag-alongs, a skater, a trucker, a doctor and her half-dead brother, the group headed outside of the bathroom. Tricia was the first one out, and she almost froze in her tracks.  
  
Zombies were coursing out from the stairway that the group had come from.

Only, it wasn't just several zombies. It was a tidal wave of undead. A literal sea of corpses clawing and growling its way towards them.   
  
"Move!" yelled Eric. While re-loading, he turned to a second staircase at the end of the dark hall. The door to it was ripped and barely on its hinges, with the front window shattered. The bodies of soldiers were piled one after the other on the steps. Beyond that, there was only darkness, and someone screaming.

Eric heard a voice by his hear. "You do not want to go over there." It was the trucker. Eric took one last look at the staircase before opening fire on the zombies again.  
  
"This way!" yelled the doctor, pointing to the far end of the hallway.

The group headed in that direction.  
  
On the way there, a zombie tackled Curtis. Its teeth were barred as it grabbed him and shoved him to the floor. Teeth snapping, it brought its maw right up to the preacher's face.

Curtis let out a yell just as a the handle of a colt slammed into the zombie's head, shoving it to the side.

Eric switched his colt back to firing position and helped the preacher up, and the both of them followed after the others.  
  
More bullets were let loose. The darkness was broken every so often by the flash of gunfire. Zombies were now coming out from every crevice and hallway.

Finally the group made it to the exit, and as they left the building, slammed the door shut behind them.

The cool winds started to pick up outside as the survivors made their way across the grounds and back to the mini-base.


	12. The Run

They ran.

They ran as fast as they could even though nothing was following them.

It seemed an eternity of zig-zagging past tents and compounds before the mini-base's door were in front of them.

The doctor let go of her brother and then she and Tyler laid the half-dead man on the ground.   
  
"We can't bring him any further." said Tyler.  
  
The half-dead man's eyes were completely shut, his face was webbed in blue veins and the flesh was as pale as stone. His eyelids would flutter and close every second or so.  
  
"Derek...no... hang on!" screamed the doctor, leaning down towards him.

Derek just lay there, groaning in pain.  
  
There was a click. The doors to the base slowly creaked open. Craig was standing there, holding one door open, Madison holding the other.  
  
"Come on!" yelled Craig.  
  
The prisoner, Billy, was the first one to run to safety. He stopped to catch a breath once, and his beady little eyes went over to Madison. Madison was about to ask if he was ok, when she caught his look. She quickly looked away and suppressed a shudder. -----Ok, now that's creepy..---  
  
"Hurry up!" yelled Craig. There were still others outside.  
  
The doctor refused to leave her brother's side.

That turned out to be a mistake.

Derek's head raised up and his teeth clamped down on her coat. The doctor screamed but Tyler pulled her back just in time, a single piece of fabric ripping away from her jacket.

Zombie Derek shot to his feet, and growled, spitting the fabric from his teeth. He spun around and turned his sights on Marissa.   
  
Marissa tried to raise her gun, but for some reason, she was frozen. Her body couldn't move. She could only stand there with wide-eyes as Zombie Derek ran towards her.

A shot rang out. Brains flew.

Tricia's glock bullet had ripped right through the zombie's cranium and sent it sprawling across the floor.  
  
The doctor tried to run over to her dead brother but Tyler pulled her back to the base, where the others all followed.  
  
The doors to the base shut........ again.  
  
"What was that all about?" asked Eric, in between catching breaths, as he turned to Marissa.  
  
"No..nothing..." stammered Marissa, " Just couldn't think for a second is all."  
  
"Well your lucky blondie was there to help you out."  
  
Tricia glared at Eric, but let the comment slide. She looked over to Marissa while placing the glock back in her belt, then grinned, "You're welcome."


	13. Billy

Two days had gone by since the initial rescue. Three survivors had been saved.

There was Shannon, a medical assistant for the military.

- Dunn, a skater punk who was always quick with one-liners ; and Tex, a friendly trucker guy from Greenville.

Time passed by and the survivors got to know one and other pretty well. They spent a lot of time with each other, and, (except for a few bad seeds) they all became good friends.  
  
An on-and-off storm had been raging down on Milwaukee for the last couple of days. But it didn't dampen the moods of the survivors.   
  
Today, they were all in the recreation room. Tyler and Tricia were playing pool, while Craig, Dunn and Madison shot some hoops on the mini-basketball court. Tex, Craig and Shannon were all sitting around just chatting and playing cards. Eric though, was in the weight room, sparring with a punching bag.  
  
Love was in the air as Tricia and Tyler grew closer together, and Craig and Marissa were always disappearing off to a bunker every now and then.   
  
So for the most part, everything was going well. Except for one person in the group.. one person who made it a chore to try and creep everyone out.....  
  
Billy almost never left his room. He would stay there all through the day and occasionally come out to grab some food from the cafeteria, before hurriedly heading back to his room.

The others kept away from him as much as possible.....  
  
-----  
  
Another day went by.....  
  
Eric was on the rooftop again. He was throwing molotov cocktails over the ledge, past the walls, and watching as the bottles would crash against a zombie and light the monster's body on fire.

He was trying not to enjoy it... but failing.   
  
"Nice hobby you've got there." said a voice from beside him.  
  
Eric looked over to see Shannon standing there, wathcing him.

He gave her the look-over once before throwing another bottle off the roof.

_Pretty cute_, thought Eric. "What do you want?" he asked cooly.  
  
At first, Shannon was a bit taken aback.

So far, everyone had been really nice to her, and she'd felt it was more of a pity thing because of what had happened to her brother. She didn't resent the others for being especially nice to her, she appreciated it.

But it looked like Eric didn't play the same tune.  
  
"You know I've been here three days, and I haven't spoken to you once."  
  
"That's to bad," said Eric, igniting another bottle.. He paused for a second and looked over to her. "I hear you've been in the control room a lot. If you ask me, it's a big waste of time."  
  
"Why's that?"  
  
Eric threw the bottle off the roof and a zombie screeched before dropping to the ground, covered in fire. Now that he was done, the soldier turned fully around to face her. "There's no help coming Shannon. My guess is the rest of the world is just as screwed up as it is here. ....... We're all that's left." Eric started to walk away.

Shannon hesitated at first, but then grabbed his arm and stopped him. "Wait.. there's something else I wanted to talk to you about."  
  
"What?"  
  
"You're the leader here right?"  
  
"Hell no."-_ She might be hot, but she's starting to get annoying-_  
  
"Look, whatever, " said Shannon as she let go of his arm and took a step back, "It's about that Billy guy. When you found him, he was in a cell right?"   
  
Eric nodded.  
  
"Well, before the creatures first attacked the base. A woman, a soldier, was murdered. Three suspects were put into the holding quarters to be kept there until proper military personnel could interrogate them."  
  
"So what?"  
  
"So what? It means you could've let out a pyschopath."  
  
"Yeah, well, then get your little pals and lynch that freak. Either way its not my problem."   
  
After saying that, Eric walked off to the fire exit, leaving Shannon just standing there.   
  
----------  
  
Peace.

For the first time, in a long time, Madison actually had a sense of peace.

It might've been the cool waters against her skin, or it could've been the silence of the room. Either way, she felt good today.  
  
Good enough to forget...  
  
It was only yesterday that she found out this little base, a simple cadet training base for crying out loud, had a gigantic pool on the first floor. The waters were completely clean and a stark blue and she made a vow to come swim here everyday.  
  
She did one more lap across the pool.  
  
After she was done, she crawled back out onto the deck and then headed back to the locker room. It only took her a couple of minutes before she was dried and dressed and then heading back outside to the south wing corridor.

She was carrying her swim shorts in one hand, with a small duffle bag on the other. Her towel was wrapped around her shoulder.  
  
"Madison....."  
  
Madison nearly jumped 3 feet into the air. Her heart thumping in her chest, she turned to where the voice had come from.

It was Billy.

He was standing there, with the eeriest expression on his face. It was almost completely blank, except for his eyes, which had the strangest glint.  
  
"Hi... Billy." said Madison, trying to stay polite.

She had caught that glint and suppressed a shiver as she turned away and started to dry her hair with the towel. "What's up?"  
  
"Nothing, I just thought you'd maybe like to talk is all.," replied Billy  
  
"I"m kind of sleepy right now... but hey, maybe tomorrow." She finished drying outher hair and then placed the towel in her duffle bag  
  
"I heard what happened with your parents Madison... I'm very sorry."  
  
"It's ok, don't worry about it," Madison started to walk in the other direction, but Billy just followed her down the hall.  
  
"You know I lost somebody to.. somebody very important to me."   
  
Hearing that, Madison stopped. She turned to face him.

No, she didn't like him. But those last words that had come out of his mouth........ well.. they had actually sounded sincere.  
  
"I'm sorry..." started Madison.  
  
"Oh, it's ok. See she used to be my friend. But to tell ya the truth... she was a cruel... cruel person.. she used to say really mean things to me... even though I thought she was my friend."  
  
The glint lit up in Billy's eyes and Madison suppressed that same shiver again. "Oh," was all she could think of saying.   
  
There was a momentary silence, and then Billy spoke again,"You're not cruel like that are you Madison?"  
  
Madison didn't know what to say. She was about to just turn heel and walk away, when suddenly Dunn came out from around the hallway. At first, the skater thought something was wrong, due to the fact Billy was standing so close to Madison and she looked frightened.

Dunn quickly walked over to them.  
  
"Yo, everything ok guys?" he asked  
  
Billy ignored the skater's presence, and kept his eyes on Madison. Madison looked down. Then, with a grin, Billy walked off down the corridor, leaving the two alone.  
  
"What was that all about?" asked a confused Dunn.  
  
"Hell if I know." Madison breathed a sigh of relief and started to head back to her room.  
  
--------  
  
Billy slammed open the door to his quarters and then shut the door almost immediately after.

He sat down on his bed, which was covered in papers with weird drawings on them.

Beside from drawings, his room was covered in weird symbols that he had carved during his stay there. He knew that nobody was going to be coming into his room anytime so there was no point in concealing them.  
  
See, Private Billy Burrell was one screwed up cookie.

He had been in the military ever since he was a little kid. He was known for being a loser, for being an outcast, a weirdo, and he actually prided in it. He had never had any real friends, since everyone around him decided to ignore him, or torment him.   
  
Even here, the people ignored him, and there was even a bully, the so-called bad-ass Soldier that was always on everybody's case.   
  
But then there was Madison. Madison wasn't like the others. She was nice to him. She actually spoke to him when he talked to her.

_She's a nice person, she's not like that other girl back at the main base...._ thought Billy

Billy took out a knife from one of the drawers in his room and used it to start carving another design on his wall......


	14. That Night

Today was a day without rain, and they hoped that the storm was gone for good.

The group was all out on the rooftop, and it was night time. It was the perfect place to relax. They could even see the stars roaming the dark sky up ahead.  
  
They had set up chairs and even a dinner table, along with all sorts of food and drinks they'd gotten from the cafeteria.  
  
Sort of a mini-celebration, even though there were zombies watching them from below and growling at them every few seconds.

Xena was resting her head on the ledge of the roof, beside Shannon, and the dog would bark every once in awhile in return to the snarling zombies.  
  
"Just one beer man... come on... come on!" Dunn had been pleading with Curtis and Tex to let him have a beer, even though he was still 17. Curtis sighed and relented, "Fine, fine, drink if you want. I don't see what the big deal is."  
  
"Yes! I knew this end of the world thing was good for something." said Dunn. The teen quickly ran over to where a cooler was set up and grabbed a bottle from inside.  
  
Curtis chuckled and then looked over to the other side of the roof, "Geez, speaking of behaviour I don't condone."

Tex followed the preacher's gaze and saw Craig, who was doing shots tequila shots off Marissa.  
  
"Hey, they're kids, let them do what they want," said Tex.

Curtis chuckled again and nodded before taking a seat at the table.  
  
"Wow, look at the love-birds," said Marissa, taking enough time to drink her own tequilla shot as Tyler and Tricia walked over towards her and Craig.  
  
Craig grinned and hooked his arm with Marissa's, imitating what Tricia and Tyler were doing. "Yeah, it's almost sweet, in a corny kind of way."  
  
"You guys are just healous just jealous," said Tricia with a grin.   
  
Suddenly, a loud boom overhead kick-started the end of the celebration. Another loud boom that turned into a crackle. Then, the rain came down. It came down fast and without warning, the largest amount of rain they'd seen since they'd got there.  
  
The group was soaked in a matter of a seconds, and they grabbed what they could of food and supplies before running back into the building.

Tricia and Tyler stayed behind, and the rain didn't seem to bother the two teenagers as they stood there on the roof, so long as they were kissing the way they were right now.

It had just been sudden. Tricia was about to head inside when Tyler stopped her and brought his lips to hers.

Time itself seemed to stop for Tricia, and the storm, and the rain, none of it mattered to her.

Craig and Marissa stopped at the fire exit when they saw that the two teens were still out on the rooftop.

Craig sighed, "Two teenagers in love, just like Eric and Ka..."  
  
Marissa interrupted him, "Don't......That's over with. I feel bad for Eric, but that whole mess is over with."  
  
Craig looked down, "They were exactly like those two Marissa. Full of life ya know."  
  
Marissa felt her eyes going red, but she kept cool. "Eric's girlfriend is dead... she **Turned**, he killed her. The end. Kara's never coming back and Eric needs to move on."  
-----------  
  
Eric was in his room, trying to get some sleep. He tried to close his eyes and fall off into temporary unconsciousness but it wasn't working.

Finally, he got up out of bed and over to his window. He opened it, and let some of the cool, night air come into his room.

The breeze knocked down a photograph that had been on his dressed. He quickly walked over to it and picked it up.  
  
The photo was of him and a girl, both dressed in their army gear, and both wrapped in each other's arms. In that photograph, eric was actually happy. Something he hadn't been in awhile.

_Have to move on._

He slid the photograph underneath his pillow, vowing to keep it there, at least for a little while.

It was time to stop brooding.

Eric walked over to his window and looked outside.

He didn't have much a view from his room, but at least he could still see a lot of sky overhead.

His stomach rumbled and for the first time he regretted not having gone up to the roof with the others, at least just to get some dinner.

His gaze focused on a shadow moving through the air. As he continued to look, he could clearly make out a shape moving in the clouds.

_No way..._

Without even finishing his thoughts, or even putting on some proper clothes, Eric ran outside of his room and into the hallway.  
  
--------  
  
When Eric found the others, he was already one second to late.

He burst into the control room, and everyone was already standing there.  
  
"There's a ..."  
  
"Chopper, we know." said Tricia, interrupting Eric. "But for all they know, they think its an abandoned military base."  
  
"The radios still aren't working properly," said Shannon.  
  
"We need to send some kind of message," said Tex, "What can we use?"  
  
Craig thought for a second, then put in his two cents, "There's some flares we can use, but we've gotta hurry. The chopper's probably going to do a circle around but we still don't have enough time. Their in the tented area."  
  
"Well what are we waiting for," said Tricia. She walked over to a table and picked up a beretta lying there. Then she turned to look at Eric, and stopped. "Um... Eric?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Why are you in your boxers?"  
  
-----  
  
It was pouring out, but they would ignore it. Eric rounded the corner around the outside wall of the mini-base. He checked once to make sure the coast was clear and then gave the signal to Tyler. Tyler nodded, and he and the others came out from around the corner of a compound till they caught up with Eric. There were two teams leading the mission. Tricia had volunteered to keep watch, while Marissa, Eric and Tyler headed towards the tented area. Everyone else had been allowed to stay at the base since they didn't need a lot of people to do this.  
  
It was almost pitch black but for the flourescent blue lights coming from seemingly nowhere, powered by the emergency generator system that coursed electricity throughout the Fort.

They moved from Tent to tent, and Tyler started to smell rotten flesh from nearby

He used his gun to brush aside the flaps of the tent that kept on getting in his face, soaked down by the rain.

Ahead of him, was only more tents and darkness. Again, it seemed like nothing more than a fancy maze.  
  
Up ahead, he could barely make out Eric. The soldier had stopped, and was signalling for them to wait up.

Then Eric went forward again, this time disappearing completely from view into another tent.

"Shit.." Tyler whispered, and folllowed after him. Marissa was close behind.

When they got to the tent, they saw Eric just standing there. He was looking straight forward.

In front of him, was another soldier, and Tyler was taken aback at first.

This new soldier, had a completely shaved bald head, and must've at least been close to 7 feet tall. He was dressed in army fatigues also, and his hair was caked in blood.   
  
The giant was sitting completely still, with his head bowed, and they couldn't see his face.

They couldn't tell if the 7-footer was dead or alive.

The fact that they weren't able to see his face as they walked closer didn't help ease tension either.  
  
"Who is he?" whispered Tyler, keeping his gun ready just in case.  
  
"Drake... he was our sergeant....." whispered Marissa, sadness in her eyes, "Poor guy."  
  
"Yo, sarge," called out Eric. The sergeant didn't move, only sat there, head bowed, looking at the floor.  
  
Tyler was starting to get creeped out, "Hey, leave him man," said the biker, "he's dead. We've gotta get those flares."  
  
Marissa nodded in earnest. She slowly started to back-step out of the tent and Tyler followed.

Eric didn't though.

Instead, he walked closer to the still sergeant. Walked right up until the two were right in front of each other.  
  
Eric shook his head, almost in pity, "Sorry sarge." With that, Eric grabbed the army tag from around the dead sergeant's neck and ripped it off. Slipping the tag into his pocket, Eric turned to walk away.  
  
Lightning crackled nearby, illuminating the tent.

As Eric turned to leave, yellow light washed over the 7 foot zombie starting to twitch.

Eric Reyes never heard a thing as the once-still sergeant stood up off the table.....


	15. Chaos

Look out!" It was Tyler that yelled first.  
  
Eric turned around, and found himself face to face with his former sergeant. Only it wasn't his sergeant anymore. The zombie's head was still bowed, but now it was cracking its neck from side to side, and its eyes were fluttering, like it was just waking up from a dream. Then it looked up, and turned its ghastly eyes on the three humans.

It let out a roar and moved forward. Eric dived back and let a few bullets loose from his deagle, which ripped right into the zombie sergeant's belly. It thrashed around wildly, kncoking down the supports for the tent as the tarp started to cave in on them.

The rain was at its worst, drumming endlessly against the ground around them.

More bullets went off, but the gigantic zombie never fell. It roared and moved forward again. This time, it grabbed marissa. Eric and Tyler couldn't even see what was happening as they struggled to get out from underneath the tarp.

Marissa tried to fight back but her strength was useless as the zombie bit a large chunk out of her arm.

Letting out a piercing scream, she mustered her last reserve of strength and pulled free. The rest of the tarp fell down onto the zombie's head,

distracting it for a bit, as a bewildered Marissa looked down to the huge wound on her arm. To her right, she could see what she thought was more zombies coming in from around the side of the compound.

_Oh god, oh god, oh god....._

She was starting to lose it. She wanted to hide, to be away from this nightmare suddenly. She prided herself on being tough, but right now, she felt only one thing.

Fear.  
  
Then she started to run as fast as she could from the tent site, and she never stopped to look back to see if her friends were ok.

She heard someone yelling at her, trying to call her back, but she wasn't listening.   
  
Meanwhile, Tyler had finally managed to get the annoying, wet tarp off him, but now both Marissa, and the big zombie were gone. Eric was there though, a few feet away, staring off into the direction that Marissa had run off to.  
  
Pain surged up through Tyler's arm.

When the tarp had fell, he'd fallen to, and had smashed his arm against the ground. It wasn't broken, but the pain was distracting him from the hulking figure coming up behind him.

The huge zombie's teeth came barrelling for the back of Tyler's neck.   
  
Blood splashed through the air.  
  
Tyler ducked out of the way as the colt bullets shredded into Zombie Sarge a second before the creature was about to bite into the back of his neck. More colt bullets went off. Zombie Sarge let out a pained roar and then finally collapsed to the ground. Tricia came out from under one of the flaps of the tent, and slowly lowered her colt. "Geez, do I always have to save you guys?"  
  
---------  
  
Craig was standing by the viewport of the doorway, trying to get a good look outside, but he could only see darkness.

Ocassionally, the lightning would illuminate some compound or some tent. But there was no sign of the others.

_Something's wrong.._  
  
A voice from behind him, "They should've been back by now." It was Tex.   
  
Craig gave him a "No Shit" look before turning back to the viewport. Again, there was only darkness.

But this time, when the lighting crackled, he could make out a figure, kneeling in the rain,about 10 feet in front of the base.  
  
"Christ, it's Marissa." Craig slammed open the door and ran outside to help her.

She was shivering and using her jacket as a blanket. Tex followed out after him as Craig knelt down and wrapped his arms around her, "Marissa...Marissa! Are you ok!"   
  
She wasn't answering. She was staring off into space. Her face was pale and her skin was cold. Her eyes were almost a pitch black but Craig didn't notice.   
  
"Help me get her inside!" Tex nodded and helped Craig pick the shivering Marissa up and bring her into the base. Then, they laid her down on a bench in the main foyer.   
  
Craig was frantic, "She needs help! She... I... I need to get her a blanket or something, she's going to catch pneumonia." Craig turned towards the doorway. He was one step closer to leaving the room when he heard the scream from behind him.

He turned back around, and his eyes went wide.

Tex was standing there, eyes open in pain, and Marissa was standing behind him, her teeth buried in the trucker's throat.  
  
(Author's Note: mwaha, just when you thought there wasn't going to be any character deaths - )


	16. The Cross Vs The Bull

---  
  
"The hell did Marissa run off like that for," whispered Eric as he grabbed the box full of flares from a nearby tent.   
  
As he set them across the floor, he looked over to Tricia, "Since when did you shoot that good?"  
  
"She's been practicing on the target range in the basement," replied Tyler.  
  
Tricia shrugged, "Well a girls' gotta learn."  
  
The flares were shot. And Tyler took a step back, his eyes on the sky as the flares attempted to match up against the rain and the lightning.   
  
"Now all we can do is wait." he said.  
  
Tricia took in a deep breath, and moved to stand next to him, taking his hand in hers.  
  
Then there was nothing. Nothing in the skies but the lighting forking through the scudding, black clouds.  
  
They waited for a few minutes, then they heard Eric muttering under his breath and start to move.  
  
"Come on," said Eric, "let's get back to the base."  
  
"No," demanded Tricia, "We need to wait here, just for a few minutes."  
  
"Tell ya what, how about you stay here and die and I'll go back? That sound like a plan?"  
  
"What's your problem?" Tyler's hands balled up into fists as he took a step towards Eric.  
  
"My problem is, my friends are back at the base. I need to check up on them." He paused for a second, "I could care less what happens to you guys."  
  
"So you would just leave us out here?" asked Tricia.  
  
"Now you're getting it. There's no chopper coming. This was a waste of time." Eric started for the exit. "I got better things to do than babysit Malibu barbie and her burnout biker boyfriend."  
  
Slam! Just like that, Tyler had tackled Eric against the side of a compound. The soldier hit the wall back-first with a loud thud. Rain or no rain, zombies or no zombies, a fight was breaking out. Eric re-gained his senses fast and sent a knee into Tyler's gut, followed by a punch and a tackle of his own. Tyler returned a fist to Eric's gut, and then tried to follow-up with a hook but the soldier was to fast for him. Eric side-stepped and tripped Tylerwith ease, at the same time, locking the young biker's arm in an inescapable grip  
  
Just on instinct from hitting the ground, Tyler's free hand had grabbed the butter-fly knife from his belt pocket and the blade was twrling out.  
  
That's when the chopper came.  
  
Both the boys stopped. They looked up to see the chopper come shooting out of the clouds just above them.   
  
Eric and Tyler exchanged a spite-filled look. Two 18 year old's who hated each others guts.

But there was more important things at stake right now.

Eric let Tyler's arm go and Tyler put the butterfly knife back. Tricia set off another flare and the chopper ran right through it. The pilot knew they were there.  
  
The chopper did another arc, to let them know he saw them. Then it dived back into the clouds.  
  
For the first time since they'd got there, Tricia felt hope again.  
  
"We're saved..." she whispered.


	17. Coming to an End

No... Marissa.. not you." Craig was shaking his head in dis-belief, but at the same time he was bringing his colt up to aim at her.  
  
Tex was already dead, and Marissa still had the trucker by the throat. After seemingly an eternity, she released him and the man's body fell to the ground. The trucker's blood dripped from Marissa's teeth and mouth.  
  
"Marissa..." Craig started to back away. Ahead of him, the zombie, that was once the one person he cared most far, began to advance in his direction.  
  
The zombie started out in a walk, and then moved into a run, and within a minute she was grabbing Craig by the throat and tackling him to the floor.  
  
He hadn't fired...  
  
They were both on the ground, and Craig wasn't even struggling. Marissa's clamped down on his vest.  
  
At the last second, the colt finally fired.  
  
Zombie Marissa let out a screech as the bullets past right through her stomach and out the other side. Her body went limp and Craig pushed her off of him. He was covered in her blood.  
  
Craig sat back up and looked to his side. Marissa was lying there, eyes still open, several bullet wounds in her gut.  
  
He felt like his insides were turning inside out, and barely restrained from vomiting. Slowly, he stood back up, and wiped the blood from his forehead and the tears from his eyes. He took a beretta from his belt and stopped by Tex's bloody body, which was sprawled out across the floor.  
  
I have to make sure....  
  
Craig aimed the beretta at Tex and then fired once..... then twice..... and then there was silence.  
  
He tried to keep from vomiting.   
  
Just then, Curtis, Shannon and Dunn ran into the room.  
  
Shannon let out a scream when she saw the blood-smeared bodies of Marissa and Tex.  
  
Dunn wasn't nearly as resilient as Craig as the skater's stomach churned and he ran over to the corner of the room, letting out a mouthful.  
  
Curtis looked from one body to the other. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.  
  
After a minute or so, the preacher looked over to where Craig was,"Are you ok?"  
  
The soldier hesitated, then shook his head, "No.... I'm not..."  
  
Craig took another look at Marissa's body and then again he had the urge to lose it. He diverted his attention back to the others, and for the first time noticed one person was missing.  
  
"Where's Madison?  
  
--------  
  
"Get away from me Billy."  
  
"Hey what's the matter with you, you don't wanna talk to me anymore!"  
  
"Please, look, I just want to go see if the others are ok. Not now allright."  
  
Madison was standing in the hallway just outside of the bunkers, and she'd bumped into the last person she wanted to talk to. Billy Burrel.  
  
"Look, please just leave me alone."  
  
"I don't understand what your problem is Madison. You're to good to talk to me now??."  
  
"Ugh, whatever Billy." Madison stormed off in the opposite direction but Billy followed for her.   
  
"You know I thought I cared about you. But now I see you're just like all the others."  
  
"You're a freak Billy, you know that." Madison quickened her pace, and this time Billy didn't follow. He watched as she walked down the hallway, moving farther and farther away from him. His eyes were clouded with anger.  
  
"Fine..." he seethed, "Girls like you.. don't deserve to walk this Earth." From his jacket, Billy produced a beretta and aimed it towards to Madison. "You deserve to die."  
  
Madison heard a click and she froze.   
  
Billy's finger was closing in on the trigger...  
  
Then there was a growl, and he felt sharp teeth dig into his hands.  
  
Xena had arrived, and she was biting viciously into Billy's fingers and palm, trying to protect Madison.  
  
"Ah, shit!" He tore his hand away from the thing's teeth and then fired his beretta once.   
  
Madison tried to move away in time, but the stray bullet caught her in the side. She stumbled once, and then lost balance where she collapsed to the floor.   
  
Billy stumbled back and looked at the wound on his hand. Blood was pouring down his arm.......... but for the most part, he was ok.   
  
Now the rottweiler was growling furiously at him and its back was tensed, prepared to make another lunge. But this time Billy was ready.  
  
"Dumbass dog..." Billy pointed his gun towards Xena and fired. 


	18. Gone

Not You Too  
  
Craig, Curtis and Shannon rushed into the hallway where they'd heard their shots, Dunn had been to weak-stomached to follow.  
  
When they got there, their worst fears were confirmed. Madison was on the floor, she had a deep wound on the right side of the waist. A couple of metres away from her, was Xena, lying limp on the ground.  
  
"Oh man..." stuttered Craig.  
  
So much death in one day.....  
  
Shannon knelt down beside Madison. "Madison... hold on ok, you're gonna be fine."  
  
Madison's eyes fluttered once.   
  
_No... not you too... no more death... - _Craig was on the verge of losing it.

Shannon looked around for anything he could use to help her, but when she looked back down at her, into Madison's eyes, she knew it was to late.  
  
"Billy....." whispered Madison. Then the young girl's eyes fluttered again and she lay still.  
  
She was gone......  
  
Craig yelled out in fury and slammed his fist into the ground. His knucles came back up cut and bruised. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see it was Curtis. There was nothing but pain in the old man's eyes.  
  
Shannon stood up and away from the body. There was blood on her hands. She tried to keep those same hands from trembling.  
  
"Billy did this," breathed Craig in a subtle fury.  
  
"We've made a huge mistake," continued Curtis, "We've let out a killer."  
  
-----------------  
  
When Eric, Tricia and Tyler arrived back at the military, there were three body bags waiting for them. In hushed whispers, they were given an explanation of what had gone down while they were gone.   
  
Eric said nothing. He only walked out of the room and left the others behind. The ones who stayed in the room discussed a proper means of burial for those that were lost.  
  
The only victim of the night that had actually survived, was Xena. The bullet had gone right through and luckily Shannon was able to patch the dog up and stop the bleeding before the rottwheiler had taken in real internal damage. Now Xena was already back to barking and growling viciously at everybody as she was confined to to the medical room.  
  
But the ones they had lost, the ones who couldn't be saved or patched up..... Madison, Tex, Marissa...... those three were gone forever. 


	19. A Pilot named Robbie Walker

(A/N Thanks for the reviews, any feedback is really appreciated. Sorry about the lack of updates, I've just been busy with work and summer school but I should have the whole story done by next week) 

A sunlit sky. That's all Tricia really wanted to see right now. A blue sky with the sun to the side and the white clouds in the middle. It seemed at least a millenia since she'd last seen one. But instead, every night she'd go to sleep and every morning she'd wake up, there was only this never-ending storm that grew more and more violent each day. The skies of morning were always grey and lifeless, and at night time the skies were a complete black without a single hint of a star or a moon. The rain came down like cold bullets proppelled from the sky, and the howling winds were more chilling to listen to than the cries of the zombies from beyond the gates. It was strange, because Milwaukee wasn't known for storms, or at least not storms like this. This storm itself seeemd all to violent and fearsome to Tricia, as it it weren't natural at all.

She had been watching it for a few minutes, standing by just one of the many windows along the second floor of the mini-base. Her hands tapped along the window-sill as her blue eyes wandered back and forth across the dark sky, the rain hammering down just a few inches from her face with only a thin sheet of glass seperating her from the downpour. Not the storm was so interesting, but despite its ferociousness, Tricia actually found it relaxing to watch.

It had been 2 days since they had lost 3 people from the group. 2 whole days since they'd lost Madison, Tex and Marissa. It had also been 2 days since they'd set the flares and gotten the signal from the chopper.

They hadn't heard from the chopper since...

Tricia wasn't surprised. In this weather the chopper had either been taken down by the assailing winds, or the pilots just didn't dare to fly back and attempt to rescue a ragtag group of 6 people stranded behind the walls of a military fort. Maybe their lives just weren't worth braving the storm....

Tricia sighed and let her mind wander elsewhere. There were other things worrying her, like the fact a maniac was still loose in the Fort. They hadn't seen Billy since that fateful night, but they knew he was still around somewhere, hiding out along the grounds biding his time till that psycho made his next move.

But surprisingly, Tricia wasn't afraid. She wasn't scared of seeing Billy, in fact just the opposite, she wanted to find him so she could beat the living crap out of him. The man had killed a friend of hers, and there was nothing more Tricia wanted to do than make him pay.

Those exact thoughts surprised her. The old Tricia would've probably locked herself in her room and never come out until Billy was caught by someone else. But things were different now.... _She _was different now.

She never wanted to hide or run again, she wanted to fight, to be someone useful for once and not spend all her time in fear. Not to mention, she had become pretty deadly with a colt and glock.

Who would've thought, the prom queen goes commando, Tricia couldn't help but grin at the thought.

Lost in thought, and she didn't even know he was next to her until he had his arms until she felt an arm wrap gently around her waist. She smiled and leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder.

They shared a few brief moments of silence, just enjoying each other's company until Tricia finally spoke again.

"Tyler....."

"Yeah?"

"Do you think the chopper will ever come back?"

"I know it will." 

Tricia sighed. She wanted so badly to believe him, wanted to believe that one day they might get out of this place where they could be free, be happy, and be together...

But that was nothing more than a dream, realized Tricia, and everyday the chopper failed to return, that dream was pushed further and further away

----------------

There was crackling. Then static, and then came the voices. Craig almost couldn't believe it at first.

He, Shannon, and Dunn had all been standing in the control room for over a half hour. Shannon had insisted that she could get the radios working in that time, and Craig had called her on it.

"If we ever get out of here," started Shannon as she fixed up the last of the controls, "You owe me 50 bucks."

"Duely noted," answered Craig as he moved next to her, leaning down closer to the control panel to try and hear the voices more clearly. 

"Well, I can't hear shizeeot," said Dunn, "I don't hear any pilots. Shannon probably intercepted some phone sex line."

Shannon rolled her eyes at the comment and then, flipping a switch, turned up the volume on the speakers. The voice was now coming in clearly.

elta......do you read.... I repeat... can any of you hearme.... 

"Holy crap," breathed Dunn as he heard the voice over the radio, "Is that ....... .God?"  
  
"No you idiot," said Craig, who then turned to a nearby intercom, "Is this the chopper pilot from 2 days ago."

_that I am.... I couldn't....... the storm..... shit, breaking up, hold on._

Silence, then the static started up again.

Ok, sorry about that. I couldn't fly back here because of the storm, but I should be arriving back at the base within a day.

Craig resisted the urge to jump up and cheer and from a side-glance he could tell Shannon wanted to do the same.

"That's great news," continued Craig.

storm's. still to heavy, another chopper coming with me. Keep in contact through radio, over and out

Craig clicked off the intercom. He looked down for a second, then shoved his fist high into the air and yelled, "OH YEAH!!"

Dunn raised an eyebrow at Craig, "Er... dude, what the hell was that."

Craig sighed and lowered his hand, "I have no idea."

Shannon giggled, "Oh yeah indeed."

-----------------------

Bullets and screams. Fire and laughter. And not the happy, joyous laughter but that evil cackling kind. That was all Billy ever heard or saw, for the most part. Of course, right now it was all in his mind. A private little hell that he'd concocted within his own imagination, an inescapable prison of thoughts and self-doubts. Wherever he would go, he would hear people laughing at him, people who weren't even there. They were nothing but mental illusions but to Billy they were as real as stone.

Even now, as he lurked within the shadows of the main base, he heard that same, cruel, mocking laughter. It reverberated through his head like the pounding of a tribal drum.

Billy Burrell had been bullied all his life, had been mocked and picked on as a kid and even when he'd joined the military, thinking that he'd find a better life as a soldier......maybe find acceptance. But no, it had been worse than back home in Texas. For him, the military had been a living nightmare. The boys bullied him and the commanding officers bullied him and the girls laughed at him. He had been forced to spend his days as a a private alone in his room drawing and carving and plotting.

Then there came that one day when he'd lost it, the day of the Invasion. The same day he was to be removed from the military as he'd been proclaimed a psychotic nutcase by his superiors and thus sentenced to be discharded immediately.

When the zombies first attacked the main base however, he had made his move. He had shot two officers, a commanding officer and a woman, both who had been especially cruel to him during his stay there.

He thought he could get away with it, but they caught him anyways. Even while fighting off zombies, the other soldiers still managed to catch him and throw him into a cell. Yet Billy didn't mind. Hell, he was safe from the zombie hordes in that cell, and as soon as he got rid of that other person in the cell, he was not only safe, but completely alone without anyone to bother him.

Until he was freed..... of course.

The death of Madison had been an accident. He hadn't meant to shoot her. It was purely on instinct and anger that he'd grabbed that gun on shot. He had silently wept for for his fatal mistake in the very shadows he stood within this very moment. But there was no bringing Madison back, she was gone, and he could only look to the future.

"Just one more," he whispered. He got down on one knee and planted the last device at the edge of the main base. There was a click of the switch on his hand, and then the beep, followed by several beeps. Billy stood back up with a big smile of his face, proud of his work.

There was one positive thing that had come out from his experience of snooping around a military base for the last two years, and that was finding out how to make and plant bombs.

See, Billy Burrel was looking to the future, and saw nothing. He had no future and he knew it. Now, he was just making sure that everyone at Fort Pastor shared the same fate..........


	20. Get Down With the Sickness

(Pneumonia)

There was once a radio transmission, and it went something like this.

Robbie: Robbie again, just checking to see if everything's ok. Is Craig there

Craig: This is Craig, I read you loud and and clear Rob. What's the news

Robbie: This weather is getting worse and worse by the second, there's no way I can land on the mini-base, if anything I'm landing on the elevated platform by the Main Base

Craig: Are you kidding? The Main base is a death trap, there's no way we can get through there to the platform

_Robbie: Sorry man, it's the only place I can land in this shitstorm_

Then the radio transmission ended.

Billy had heard the whole thing. He was in the storage compound in the east wing of the fort. In front of him was a broken-but-still-barely working radio system that had picked up on Craig and the pilot's transmission.

An evil grinned cross Billy's features as he devised a plan based on the conversation he had just heard.

The main base is going to be a lot harder to get through once I'm done wit...., Billy's thoughts were cut off as he fell into a set of violent coughs.

Shit, not again.

For the last few hours, he'd been gripped by a terrible cold. His own fault for spending so much time hiding outside.

He coughed for a few minutes, his lungs on fire, his hands shivering.

And then it was over again.

He tried to collect himself but knew that it was only a short matter of time before the coughs returned.

Now is not the time to be getting sick..... now is not the time...

Billy grabbed some more one of his explosives from off the table in front of him. He left the compound and started to make his way to the main base, where he'd plant his last set of bombs.

Once outside, the rain hit him like the full blast from a turret gun. It soaked him within a matter of seconds and his thin green coat wasn't providing much shielding from the onslaught. Slowly, he trudged his way across the grounds to his destination.

He was halfway there, when another set of violent coughs overtook him, this time so strong that he was forced down to his knees. The detonator dropped from his hands and clattered to the ground. 

--------

Over an hour later, Billy had finished planting his bombs. But instead of heading back to the east compound like he had planned, he was lying sprawled out in front of the main doorway of the main base, shivering uncontrollably.

The pain was to much for him now..... and everytime he started coughing he had to stay in one place to keep from toppling over.

This isn't happening to me.....

For the first time, all his scheming, his plots of revenge, his hatred, all the wrongs he'd done, seemed so trivial. All he could think about now was the pain that each cough brought to his lungs.

He was sick,, and as he struggled back to his feet, and desperately staggered back towards the mini-base, he thought of how useless all the bombs and all his anger were now that he was going to die by a simple cold......


	21. Killer's Eyes

There was sludge in the pool. Or some sort of weird green substance that had caught Tyler's eyes as he looked down to the murky waters from the benches. Not something he wanted to investigate, nor somethign he really cared about, but the pool was the only safe place for him to sneak a cigarette. Anywhere else and Tricia would catch him for sure.

He'd never hear the end of it.

Another drag, and Tyler sat back, watching the tiny puff of smoke saunter through the area before disappearing from sight.

There was the sound of a door opening, and Tyler instinctually tossed his cigarette to the floor and snuffed it underneath his boot. He didn't turn to who had entered, but only listened, as footsteps approached him and then stopped right beside him. It was Curtis, and the old preacher took a seat on the bench a few feet away from the young biker.

Curt's eyes caught the destroyed cigarette on the floor, "Those things will kill you know."

"Believe me father, If I get killed, It aint going to be from one lousy cigarette."

Curtis mimicked Tyler's action and propped his own legs up on the opposing bench before speaking again, "I know what you're thinking of doing... what you have planned."

"....yeah."

"Tyler, I know Madison was like a sister to you but, killing Billy isn't going to solve anything."

"No, but it sure as hell will feel good," Tyler propped his elbows back on the bench behind him, "The last thing I told her parents before they died, was they'd out watch out for their daughter."

The preacher sighed and hooked his fingers together in a triangle, "You know I saw a change in you since all this happened, since you met Tricia."

"Yeah."

"A good change, don't screw it all up."

"You forget where we are Curtis. The normal rules don't apply anymore."

Curtis sighed and shook his head pitifully, "Tricia still doesn't know about your past and she doesn't have to. Remember when you first came to me, remember what you were like back then? You were the spitting image of that Eric fellow, but now you've matured." Curtis stood up from the benches, ready to leave since there was nothing else left to say, "Try and keep it that way son."

More footsteps, and Tyler didn't have to turn sideways to know that Curtis was leaving. A creak of a door, and the preacher was gone.

Tyler let his mind wander over everything he'd just heard in the last minute or so. It bothered him that those same words had struck some kind of emotional chord in him.

But it won't make any difference.....

Tyler grabbed another cigarette from his jacket pocket and struck a match to it.

----------------------

"And yeah, this was my dad's bike. I never did get my license but I used to steal this bike from the garage almost every night," said Tyler, holding up a picture of his motorcycle. It was the only photograph he still had in his possession.

He and Tricia were in the rec room. They made sure everyday to reserve some time for each other when they weren't to busy planning survival strategies with the rest of the group.

"I used to head out to bars with my friends, either that or cruise around causing whatever kind of trouble I could."

"Wow," replied Tricia, "I used to think stealing a few coins ot of my mom's purse was rebellious enough."

Tyler grinned and put the photo away, taking Tricia's hands in his as he planted a soft kiss on her lips.

Time seemed to move so slow when they were together, as if there were no monsters, no psychos, no dead bodies, only he and her. And nothing else mattered.

"You know," said Tricia, "I feel like I've known forever but.... I don't really know anything about the old you. Your past, it's all one big mystery."

"You wouldn't want to know the old me, I wasn't a very pleasant guy to be around."

"I don't believe that."  
  
Tyler sighed and leaned back on the couch. Tricia leaned back with him. He didn't like where the conversation was going.

"Look, I was just a screwed up teenager. A high school drop out. I did some things that I regret. But, that's all over with. Just know you can trust me."

Tricia looked him over for a few seconds. She could tell there was something he definitely didn't want to talk about, but she also knew there was no sense in haggling him, "I trust you," she said quietly.

------------------

Night time again. There were wet footsteps on the floor. A long, slippery line of prints extending across the floor of the corridor, forming a sort of silvery wet trail. And Tyler knew exactly what was at the end of that trail.

His footfalls echoed loudly through the corridor, the sound of each step bouncing back and forth between the walls on either side of him. He could hear whispers from up ahead, but most of it was drowned out by the thudding rainstorm outside.

He wasnt bothering to be stealthy, wasn't bothering to hide his movements. He moved with deliberate stride and purpose, and there was nothing that could stop him, not even Tricia herself.

Soon he was at the end of the footstep trail. It led him into a room, a room he'd never been in before. This particular room was tiny and cramped and filled with carvings and weird drawings, which covered ever nook and cranny.

Inside, there was only a bed with crumpled sheets, a barred window, and a sink with the tap still running. Every second or so, a single bead of water would fall down to the drain in a repetitive motion.

****

Drip....... Drip..... .Drip....

And beside the sink, sitting there on the floor, soaked from the rain outside, was Billy. The stocky soldier was shivering forcibly and mumbling something incoherently to himself.

Tyler's eyes narrowed and he shook his head pitifully, "You're an embarassment Billy."

Billy only laughed in response.

"How long have you been here?" asked Tyler

"About an hour, given me a lot of time to think you know."

Tyler dug his hands into his jeans pockets and walked through the room, stopping to take a seat on the bed. Billy was now sitting only a couple of feet in front of him.  
  
"I didn't mean to kill Madison, it was a mistake. I.... I just lost control." Billy followed-up that sentence with a series of violent coughs.

"But you've killed people before."

"Yes.... haven't you?"

Tyler's eyes went cold and he nodded slowly in response, "Yes."

The young biker's hands emerged from his pockets only now the right hand was twirling his favoured butterfly knife. Billy saw the weapon but didn't bother getting up to move.

"Do you know what it's like to be laughed at all your life, to spend every night lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling and fearing what the next day brings."  
  
Tyler didn't reply.

Billy laughed again, "I did a bad bad thing"

"What?"

"I Heard the radio transmission, I heard about the choppers coming, so I," Billy stopped to chuckle, "I planted bombs all over the compounds and main base. Your sitting right beside the detonator," Billy pointed to the device on the bed just a few inches from where Tyler was.

"So what now Billy, why did you come back?"

"I don't know. I was planning on setting them off, but I'm too tired now, and I'm sick. Sick of all this shit. For once, I just want it to be over," Billy coughed again, even harder than the last time.

It wasn't a normal cough. The man had probably caught pneumonia, thought Tyler.

"I don't have anything left to finish what I had planned. I'm tired now. It's funny, you never see things clearly until right at the very end," Billy tried to keep control of his shivering but it was no use, "Maybe I want to be saved."

Tyler stood up off the bed, tired of sitting and listening now. The butterfly knife was no longer twirling between his fingers, though his grip remained fasteneded to the handle.

"You know Tyler, you've got the same eyes as I do."

There was a flash of white light. The butterfly knife had come down in a swift arc, a slashing motion, followed by a spray of blood.

Billy never even had a chance to scream before the end came.

So then it was over.

Billy's body fell to the ground right by Tyler's feet. Some of the soldier's blood had gotten onto his shirt, but Tyler didn't care. Slowly, he dropped the butterfly knife to the floor and also moved to grab the detonator off the bed, which he carefully placed in his pocket. When he was all done, he turned away from the corpse, ready to leave the room.

Tyler's green eyes went to the doorway and grew wide with the surprise at that sight that greeted him there.

Tricia Miller, his Tricia, stood at the entrance, with a look of sheer terror on her delicate features.


	22. Apathy

She couldn't believe what she had just seen.  
  
There she was, standing in the doorway of Billy's room. In front of her, was her boyfriend Tyler, covered in blood after just having murdered Billy with his very own hands.  
  
And Tricia had seen everything.  
  
"Tricia..." whispered Tyler, "Wait...."  
  
She wasn't listening. She was almost frozen in place. Her eyes were fixated on all the blood on his shirt and the corpse at his feet.  
  
"Tricia...."  
  
She hated Billy... she wanted the scum dead just like everyone else.....

But watching the man die like that.... seeing the cold, inhuman look in Tyler's eyes as he brought the knife down.... and then all the blood splattering over.  
  
She wasn't ready, and now she was scared.   
  
"Tricia!"  
  
That was it. She ran from the room, her feet and her fear carrying her down the hallway. Her heart threatened to pound right out of her chest.  
  
She thought she knew him so well, but seeing those green eyes of his that she loved, so chilling and devoid of any emotion, had shocked her to the very core.  
  
She was terrified, terrified of the man she was supposed to be in love with, and now she was running as far away from him as possible, even though she could hear him calling out to her, begging for her to come back.  
  
But she still ran.  
  
------------  
  
He found her in her room later on. She was just sitting there, with a blank look in her eyes. He walked over to her bed and knelt down in front of her but she refused to look at him.  
  
"Tricia... Tricia look, I did what I to do ok."  
  
She wasn't listening to him.  
  
"Please Tricia," continued Tyler, "What I did today... I mean, you know I would never hurt you right."  
  
Tricia wanted so badly to believe him, but when she turned to look at him and saw those eyes, she saw a completely different person now.  
  
"I don't know you at all," said Tricia. That was all she had to say. She lay down on her bed and turned away from Tyler.   
  
That was a cue for him to leave.   
  
Tyler shook his head softly, running a hand through his ruffled brown hair, feeling totally helpess. Slowly, he stood back to his feet. He wanted to stay with her, wanted to make things right, but the situation seemed so hopless right now.   
  
"Fine," said Tyler.  
  
With nothing else to say, he walked out of her room, closing the door behind him on his way out.  
  
--------


	23. The Escape

-The Assembly Hall...-

"So that's it then. The only way to get to the chopper is to get up to the platform," Craig pointed to the desired location on the map and the others crowded around him to see.

"So what's the big problem?" asked Dunn.

"Well for one thing, the only way to get to the platform, is through the the main base. And we all know how screwed up it is in the main base," answered Craig, "Not only that, but if I remember corerectly, the fourth and fifth levels are all sealed off, cutting off our access to the roof where we can get to that platform."

"Any way we can get onto those floors?" asked Shannon.

Craig pointed to another spot on the map, "Hmm, you know I don't know this place all that well, none of us do, but if I'm correct, if we can get a team up here, to the Main control room in the guard tower then we'll have a chance.. From there, the floors in the main base can be opened but who knows how many of Monsters are up there. Once it's opened though, the second team can head up to the fourth and fifth floors and make it to the chopper."

"Wait," interrupted Curtis, "Why does there have to be two teams. Why don't we all go as a group, head up to the control room, and then make our way to the main base together.

"That's a good plan father," noted Craig, "Only problem is, we're short on time time. We need a team to make it up to the platform fast, to meet with the first chopper. Otherwise if the pilots don't see anybody there waiting, there going to take off and have to do a whole circle through the storm. Who knows how long it'll take them to come back."

"Well, I for one don't want to spend another night in this hellhole," said Shannon.

"Amen," said Curtis.

Just then, Tricia came into the assembly hall.

"Hey Tricia," Craig gave her a quick nod of greeting, "'Bout time, where's Tyler at?"

Tricia shrugged, "How should I know."

The door to the assembly hall opened again. This time it was Tyler who walked in. He approached the group but when he got close to Tricia she completely ignored him.

Craig perked an eyebrow as he looked back and forth between the two, "Uh... everything ok?"

"Yes," said Tricia and Tyler at the same time. Curtis winced at the harshness in their voices.

"oookay, well, I guess our main problems, besides the thousands of flesh-eating monsters, is that psycho Billy," said Craig.

"No, Billy's taken care of.." Tyler paused as he shot a glance to Tricia, "We don't have to worry about him anymore."   
  
"Um.. allright," started Craig,"well can someone get Eric, he's in the storage room getting our equipment together,"

"I'll get him," offered Tricia. She made her way out of the room without so much of a glance at Tyler.

"Wow," said Dunn, "Did it just get really chilly in here or what?"

---------------

Ok...ammuntion check, weapons... check, vest.. check, Eric snapped his green vest on over his blue wifebeater. He slid his bowie knife into his belt, right beside a desert eagle holstered by his waist. He grabbed two duffle bags from off the table in front of him, setting them on the floor where he checked to see if it was filled with as much artillery as they could handle. Then he proceeded to zip both bags up.

He heard a loud bark to his left and turned to see Xena, a large bandage wrapped across the dog's upper body, come bounding into the room and start growling at him. Following the rottweiler, was Tricia.

"Glad to see you're ok," said Eric.

"Um, thanks, " replied Tricia.

"I was talking to the dog."

Xena ran over to Eric and started biting on the duffle bag. Eric had to practically rip the duffle bag out of the rottweiler's teeth.

"So, everything ready?" asked Tricia.

"Ready, set, go," said Eric, zipping up the last duffle bag, "We finally found ourselves a wild ride."

Tricia perked an eyebrow at him. There was definitely something different about the young soldier that she just couldn't put her finger on. She walked next to him and picked up one of the duffle bags, deciding to lend him a hand.

"So the last couple of days, I hear you haven't been being a total jerk to everyone anymore," said Tricia, as she slung the bag over her shoulder.

"And?"

"Guilt trip?"

Eric shrugged and slung his own duffle bag around his shoulders, "Well it's my fault isn't it. I let Billy out of that cell, and I didn't do anything when shannon warned me about him. Now Madison's dead."

"I didn't figure you for the kind of person who takes blame on themselves." Eric stayed silent for a second, thinking to himself.

"It's not your fault Eric, you couldn't have known."

"You know Tricia, this whole 'you being concerned about me' is starting to freak me out." Eric made his way to the room exit and Tricia followed him.

"We're not all going to make it are we?" said Tricia as they reached the doorway.

"Nope, but as long as I make it, that's all that matters," said Eric with a grin.

"Ugh, your such an asshole."

"See..." said Eric, "..Now there's the Tricia I've come to know and love."

Together, the two headed out of the storage room and back out to the assembly hall.

--------------------

The groups assembled to carry out the mission, and finished up the last minute preparations. Eric was checking the sights on his weapon when Craig came over to him.

"Yo, a toast to our last mission man," Craig was holding two flasks, one of which he handed over to Eric.

"I don't know about you, but I'm anxious to leave a goodbye-present for those undead freaks out there," said Eric, while loading his colt.

"Amen brother," Craig raised his flask into the air, "For Kara."

Eric nodded and raised his flask two, "For Marissa."

The two soldiers, two best friends, downed their whiskey flasks and then tossed them to the floor.

--------

Team 1 - Eric, Shannon, and Dunn

Team 2 - Craig, Curtis, Tyler and Tricia.

Team 1 was assigned to be the ones to head to the main base first, clear it out, head up to the rooftop and meet with the chopper.

Team 2 would be assigned to head to the guard towers and into the main control room where they would open up the fourth and fifth floors of the Main Base for Team 1.

It sounded so simple.

Night would be coming to an end soon, but the clouds were so thick and amassed together that not a single ray of light would perfortate through the mob, and so the the entire fort was shed in shadow and rain.

Team 2 were zigzagging through a series of compounds blocking their way, along with whatever assortment of tents were erected along the fort grounds. They were all dressed in army raincoats but it didn't help against the pounding rain and the ice-cold winds.

Craig led them to a part of the base where none of them, including himself had ever been before. In front of them was a slippery staircase that wound its way against the side of the north inner- wall. "Here we go" Craig whispered as he grabbed the dripping side rail and took the first step onto the staircase. The others followed soon after.

Step one complete.

Team 1 scurried through the rain as fast as they could. They were stopped by about three zombies blocking their paths, but Eric quickly dispatched them with a few rounds from his colt. Within seconds, he, Shannon and Dunn had reached the front doorway of the Main base and pried it open.

Darkness.... and the bellowing screams of undead hordes awaited them as they slowly stepped inside.


End file.
